Forum Flyers

[jackarabit]

Hi Dan. See you slipped past the CTC dragons. Good espoir time. Think we got a former cat. 1 or 2 around here somewhere, maybe a pro? We’ll see who fesses up.

“Although it’s true I never raced,
Just ground along at tourist pace,
But passed by women always chased!”
—Maynard Hershon, Good Enough for Fausto

[Slothful1]

Hi All,
I'm new here and new to indoor rowing having got my C2 in May.

A bit about me: I'm from Essex UK, Age 44, 180cm, 100kg. I used to be a competitive amateur cyclist (time trialling and road racing) but have become very out of shape over the last few years due to laziness, lack of motivation and too much eating! Rowing seems to have sparked my motivation to get fit and lose some weight and I'll probably combine with my cycling.

I've been lurking the forum for a few weeks and decided to take up the invitation to join the FF team for affiliation and challenges. I have just done the June CTC challenge and will hopefully register my distance once I get my password sorted.

I look forward to being part of the group!

Thanks
Dan

Welcome on board! If you haven't picked this up yet during your lurking, the new members' guide covers all the various team challenges you can consider. Let us know if you have any questions about challenges, training, life, etc., etc.

Dave

[MuscleSkills]

Thanks for the warm welcome, all, and welcome Dan! Wow, so quickly I'm not the newest member! Happy to be here!

I just did the CTC challenge... I didn't think that it would end up being a HIIT workout when I started for some reason... but got my heart rate into the 170's so I guess that's good (for heart health), but the sad lack of metres shows I have a lot of progress to make still! (3487m)

[Slothful1]

It got you a spot in the 2nd boat, so definitely a good enough time! You might benefit from trying it again, if you think different pacing would work. It's only the last interval that is sprintable, and the others have the risk of being a "fly and die" if you go off too quickly.

One strategy might be to use your average pace from your last attempt, and then ramp up the pace in the last interval. I'm not sure I'll have time to fit in another session, but I might try that if I do.

As always any score for the team is worth more than none at all!

Dave

[MuscleSkills]

I like that idea! I’ll try to give it a go in a couple of days. definitely learned the hard way about fly and die!!

[jackarabit]

[jackarabit]

[Slothful1]

Good work on ticking off the challenges, Jack. For some reason I thought yesterday was the 19th, and so couldn't understand why my training session didn't give me credit. Losing track of time during this lockdown!

My training for next weekend's Virtual British Champs is decidedly sub-par. Have skipped far too many sessions, so I think I might be struggling to go sub-8 let alone beat my 7:57 SB from May.

Dave

[jackarabit]

Good work on ticking off the challenges, Jack. For some reason I thought yesterday was the 19th, and so couldn't understand why my training session didn't give me credit. Losing track of time during this lockdown!

My training for next weekend's Virtual British Champs is decidedly sub-par. Have skipped far too many sessions, so I think I might be struggling to go sub-8 let alone beat my 7:57 SB from May.

Dave

Over 30 and got a sheepskin? Nothing for it like The Old College Try. Might surprise yourself. And don’t short the warmup.

[MuscleSkills]

I did a HM yesterday! Longest distance by over 10 miles for me! Wasn’t pretty and I had to rest second half, but managed to finish...1:59. Now I have a baseline for next time!

Congrats all!

[jackarabit]

I did a HM yesterday! Longest distance by over 10 miles for me! Wasn’t pretty and I had to rest second half, but managed to finish...1:59. Now I have a baseline for next time!

Congrats all!

“26 miles across the sea? Santa Catalina waiting for me.” From Long Beach roughly and depart Terminal Island exactly [26.1 miles]. Or the ergbound 42195m Full Marathon. I know which has more curb appeal, believe me.

25 miles Athens to Marathon or Athens to Sparta or 26.2 miles Windsor Castle to a piece of string depending which wiki you trust. So, according to the current state of affairs, FM/2=13.1 miles for the HM. Your previous longest continuous row less than 3 miles [4.8K]. That is unusual. The conventional wisdom typically recommends continuous distance rows out to 12-15K [7.5 to 9 miles] as prep and conditioning for the HM.

D-scouse, if you’re lurking, what’s your take? My hunch is unbreakable central governor?

[Slothful1]

I did a HM yesterday! Longest distance by over 10 miles for me! Wasn’t pretty and I had to rest second half, but managed to finish...1:59. Now I have a baseline for next time!

Congrats all!

Well done, Jennifer. That Summer Solstice challenge is always a good excuse to get the first HM done, and going into uncharted territory is a great feeling. As you get used to that distance, your times should drop pretty quickly, especially if you're able to skip the rest in the 2nd half.

Dave

[Slothful1]

Over 30 and got a sheepskin? Nothing for it like The Old College Try. Might surprise yourself. And don’t short the warmup.

Thanks Jack. Will go with my old trusty adapted Fletcher version which gets the juices flowing well enough (cut the 20 minutes down to 10 to fit in with venue limits, and have now got used to using it).

According to the Strava fitness and freshness curve it implies I'm as fit as back in Feb, but I suspect it has been inflated by some long BikeErg sessions which don't perfectly translate into rower efforts. As you say, only way to find out what shape I'm in is to go give it a blast and see what happens!

Dave

[jackarabit]

@ MuscleSkills: Jennifer, gobsmacked by (imo) your casual approach to the HM and forgot to say Well and Truly Done!

@ Slothful1: Dave, will your virtual race have a Zoom-like video conference hookup or animated, boats-in-lanes, progress board as per Rowpro and live venues?

[MuscleSkills]

@jackarabit Ha, thanks! Yes, perhaps not the best idea but was fun! Glad I did it. Definitely need to work on not gassing on the latter half.

Although new to rowing (and long distances), I think my fitness base helped me. I lift weights 6x/week and HIIT is my jam. Before I had a baby, I also did circus 4/week on top of that, so had practice on the mental aspect of holding on for dear life!

Good luck on the virtual race, @Slothful1!